I have a lot of important stuff I am supposed to be thinking about, but sometimes the best way to think about something is to not think about it for a bit. I like to escape to volunteering at the beach for times like this. Here are a few lessons learned from a couple of recent beach clean ups.
There is a place for everyone. Whether you are one of the people digging for trash treasure in the seaweed (that nasty flashlight isn’t going to find itself) or if you are there primarily for the beautiful scenery and an occasional item pick up, every bit of help is an asset.
A morning in full sunlight is an awesome reset when your rest has been interrupted. I don’t especially mind that my cat has her 3am thoughts and wants to share them with me, but I can’t say I appreciate that joyful satisfaction she has at waking me from my slumbers only to one second later saunter over to her bed and instantly fall into deep cat sleep. Sunshine can help get that pattern of awake during day and sleep during night established again.
If you can’t tell what an object is, you probably don’t want to know. It is probably not a sponge that is worse for the wear, but is most likely something that used to be living that is decaying now. Don’t go touching that and putting it in your reusable collection bag. I would like to officially file my complete denial of picking up a piece of fish and almost doing that…
Remember that you are at the beach. Sometimes I get really focused on where turtle nests are and scanning for trash in the vicinity that might mess with a future hatchling that is just trying to break that shell and make it to the sea that I forget how breathtaking my surroundings are. I make a point to pause and to look at the ocean and to be overcome with the beauty and endlessness.
You never know when the last time you do something will be the last time that you did it. When I visit this beach, I am near people and places that I never expected to be so far from for so long. Whatever my future holds, I am really grateful I got to be back again and enjoy these clean ups.
If you go to a remotely higher-endish store afterwards, you are likely to get terrible customer service to the point of being humorous. I know my makeup has worn off and I kind of look like one of the objects that has washed up on the beach and baked for a bit, but really! There are some nicer stores near the beach and I read that you should go into a nice hotel or other space like that and just have a seat and dream for a minute in an inspirational place that is out of your routine where you can see what comes to mind as to your goals and vision and such. I like to go into a finer store, buy the one item that is $10 or under, and then look at that item in my daily life and think of bigger dreams I want. Judging from the like-so-terribly-awful-and-wow-so-horribly-painful-to-hand-this-to-you-how-are-you-the-way-you-are look on a couple of women’s faces when they have handed me my bag perhaps I should have made a better effort to dress the part of a routine shopper, lol.
Finally, be grateful there is still so much good to be a part of. There are continual reasons to be completely down about so many things that it feels like we can do so little about, especially if you watch the news for more than 30 seconds. Thankfully, there are still a lot of good things that are enduring and available to be a part of. We are each welcome to be that individual sand grain on the shore that unites with other sand grains to be part of one of the most scenic places on Earth. You’ve got this!
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